Jared Goyette

This is a developing story and is being updated. President Volodymyr Zelensky's dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov as defense minister has drawn a wave of criticism from soldiers, veterans, and civil society figures, who argue Ukraine is losing one of its most effective wartime officials without an adequate explanation. Dmytro Koziatynskyi, a war veteran who was a leading organizer of last summer's mass protests against a law curbing the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies, called fo

Canada announced more than $900 million in new military aid for Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelensky met with Prime Minister Mark Carney, though the package does not specifically include air defense systems or interceptors.

Soon, Ukraine will have a new weapon: Swedish Gripen fighter jets carrying Meteor missiles, which can hit targets farther away than any missile Ukrainian pilots have now. That extra range could help blunt one of Russia's most destructive weapons by pushing Russian pilots to drop guided bombs from farther behind the front line — shrinking how far those bombs can reach, Ukrainian military aviation expert Andrii Kharuk told the Kyiv Independent. "Here there are two factors: material, or physical,

Eight Ukrainian military units lost the right to independently conduct basic training after inspections found shortcomings, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on May 29 that Ukrainian intelligence has information indicating Russia is preparing a new large-scale attack on Ukraine.

The victims were prisoners of war (POWs) and civilian detainees, the vast majority of them men, the report said.

A former member of Advanced Company, a Brazilian-led foreign fighter unit operating under Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR), has come forward on the record to corroborate details of a recent Kyiv Independent investigation into the death of 23-year-old recruit Bruno Gabriel Leal da Silva at the unit’s base in Kyiv late last year. Daniel Santos Reis told the Kyiv Independent the unit regularly used beatings and torture as "discipline," and that a beating preceded the death of Leal da Silva.

A 23-year-old Brazilian recruit died after a brutal punishment handed out in a unit that regularly used discipline practices described as "torture" by those who both witnessed and suffered them, a Kyiv Independent investigation can reveal. The man, Bruno Gabriel Leal da Silva, died overnight Dec. 28-29, 2025, according to former fellow fighters who spoke to the Kyiv Independent on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation. The unit in question is a Brazilian-led formation called A

The Kyiv Independent’s Jared Goyette speaks with a Canadian volunteer, Brittney Shki-Giizis, who left the Canadian military to fight in Ukraine. A former tank instructor, she explains why she chose to come to the front, how she learned Ukrainian to serve in a Ukrainian unit, and how the war’s shift toward drones led her to become an FPV (first-person view) drone pilot.

A Russian drone strike on Zaporizhzhia on Feb. 3 killed two 18-year-olds and injured at least eleven other people, including three children, Ukrainian authorities said.

Colombians, many shaped by decades of armed conflict at home, have become one of the largest groups of foreign volunteers fighting for Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. The Kyiv Independent's Jared Goyette speaks with a Colombian volunteer who spent two years fighting in Ukraine.

This is Jared Goyette, blogging from a cold, blacked-out apartment in Kyiv on day 1,420 of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Our top stories today: * 'Russia is trying to disconnect Kyiv' — Supermarkets, public transport struggle after yet more strikes on energy infrastructure * Project Nightfall — Everything we know about the UK's ballistic missile program for Ukraine * ‘The situation now is the worst’ — Kyiv’s energy crisis deepens after Russia pounds power grid What we're coverin

The Oreshnik is a Russian intermediate-range ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear weapons.

Four people were killed and 25 others injured in Kyiv after Russia launched a mass attack across Ukraine overnight on Jan. 8-9. Rescue workers were among the victims of Russia's double-tap strike.

The Kyiv Independent’s Jared Goyette speaks with foreign policy analyst Ivan Fechko about Venezuela’s political crisis following the U.S. attack and kidnapping of dictator Nicolás Maduro — and why it marks a major strategic setback for Russia in Latin America and globally.